Clippers Acquire Jeff Green In Trade With Memphis

LOS ANGELES - The Clippers shook up their forward spot in the waning minutes of Thursday’s trade deadline, acquiring Jeff Green from Memphis in exchange for Lance Stephenson and a future protected first-round pick.

The future pick the Clippers sent to Memphis is lottery protected in 2019 and 2020. If the Clippers are in the lottery both years, it becomes a second-round pick for the Grizzlies in 2022.

With the 12 p.m. PT trade deadline closing in, the deal went through, as Green and Clippers head coach Doc Rivers now reunite in Los Angeles following their stint together in Boston.

Green was traded from the Thunder to the Celtics in February 2011, where he stayed until getting traded to Memphis in January 2015. Rivers’ final year coaching in Boston in 2012-13 also happened to be one of the most accurate shooting seasons of Green’s career, as Green hit 46.7 percent of his shots and 38.5 percent of his long range shots next to Rajon Rondo while averaging 12.8 points per game.

He went on to thrive in the playoffs that season with Rivers, averaging 20.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in six postseason games. Green then averaged 16.9 points per game in the 2013-14 season and 17.6 points per game in 33 games for the Celtics in 2014-15 prior to his trade to Memphis, where Green spent the end of that season and the beginning of the 2015-16 season.

For his career, Green’s a 43.9 percent shooter and 34 percent long-range shooter with averages of 14.1 points and five rebounds per game. This year, Green’s averaging 12.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game through 53 games, shooting 43.1 percent from the floor and 30.9 percent from 3-point range.

To acquire Green, the Clippers dealt Stephenson, who was in and out of the rotation in his 43 games with the Clippers. The Clippers acquired Stephenson in the summer from Charlotte in exchange for Matt Barnes and Spencer Hawes.

Stephenson, who averages 8.3 points and 4.2 rebounds for his career, averaged 4.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in 15.8 minutes per game this season. He started 10 games this year but was primarily used in a reserve role as a boost of energy off the bench.

With injuries around him and an uptick in production, Stephenson recently saw an increase in minutes, averaging eight points and 2.2 rebounds in 18 minutes per game in February. Stephenson was 24-for-34 from the floor in his last seven games, though Rivers had said defensive inconsistencies prevented him from receiving consistent time.